What are some suggestions for setting up STTNG for tournament play?
I was thinking of:
But really, just wondering what settings/adjustments are usually done and why.
Tell that to John Miller . . . 50 million . . 50 million . . .50 million . . . 50 million . . . 50 million . . . 50 million (awesome when you’re a TD trying to have a tournament not run long for fear of Pacak donkey punching you) 
Magfest just ran this - it’s 100% legit. Incentivizes other strategies (VM, Modes, Warps) and makes the Multiball that much harder to chase. I ran modes all day in qualifying and modes/warps in finals and it served well.
No matter how you cut it, STTNG is a game of repeat-a-shot. Ramp all day builds up to 50M with 210M optional payoffs. Multiball pays on average 45-75M per looping scoop hit (minimal pops, 1st MB) or 70-100M per Picard Combo (left loop → side ramp for anyone unsure). Time Warp can give looping awards, Rescue the hard way gives the same. Your eventual reward, Final Frontier, makes the repeated shot (whatever it is) worth 25M * items, so 75-100M isn’t out of the picture for 1 lap.
I don’t see video mode as problematic on a game like that given the situation.
Kickback is however you want to play it!
I think if you install a custom ROM, you owe it to your players to disclose this, perhaps as a sticky on the backglass or something.
Another thing you can do is set the light lock to transfer to bonus x instead of light video mode.
You can also disable super spinner, but honestly I haven’t seen anyone exploit that really well in a long time.
Both of those settings were used at PAPA WAY back in the day when the game was brand new, and have mostly fallen into legend.
Would like to add, that I do not see repeate shot/objective gameplay as an issue in itself.
People are turning away from using games in competition if they
Have easy ball control resulting in long game times.
Are unfair due rules (lack of) or straight up bugs.
And 1) is relative to the skill level. I’ll say a fair share of the bad rep some games have are only an issue at the highest level. Repeate right ramp on STTNG, for instance.
The 1) may be adjusted mechanically. And with a little ingenuity that PAPA and INDISC have shown to excel.
The 2) is where a little tweak in the code may go a long way. But it also sometimes can be delt with outside the brain. Is it Surf’n’Safari where PAPA is covering a Mystery shot?
Again, my oppenion, too much video mode is bad either way you have it.
Definitely. I would like to see the custom rom let you play Video Mode ONCE per final frontier trip - and you CAN select 25million instead to postpone it.
It would be nice as well if you had to COMPLETE the modes to earn the artifact instead of merely playing just a little bit of the mode until you collect it.
There’s tons of repeatable stuff in STTNG you can exploit I don’t think all of it can or should be eliminated. It’s fair in that EVERYONE is free to do/attempt to do it.
This is all sage advice.
This particular game has been used in our league for the last few seasons and we have a few players who have it dialed in. It may be used in the Alberta Provincial Championships next weekend so am wanting to mix things up a bit both for the regulars and also for the better players who will be attending.
I will certainly post a card with the relevant info on the BG.
With the regular ROM, just Install HARD mode. That is what we did at MAGfest. This disables the skill shot Video Mode, so players have to get it the harder way by shooting the right ramp. It also limits the Lock to only one ball from skill shot. After that it is a multiplier instead. Hard mode probably makes things in general a little more difficult to obtain as well. It worked well at MAGfest without the custom ROM.
That was just a HARD install? Damn, that’s simplicity. Nothing else really changes with the HARD settings; Simulations are 3 + every 6, items in modes are the same, etc.
@Fytr seeing the clientele you’re expecting in Alberta, I think the HARD should just be fine; I’d say Magfest is about the same player pool (minus the elite top-tiers that are sub-50) you’re expecting.
How hard you want to make it depends on who is playing.
There is a movable post on the right outlane that you can open up if you haven’t already.
You can set light lock skill shot to NONE.
Turn ball save (Return to Duty) off.
Set kickback to extra hard = off at ball start. Hard lights it on the first ball, but it’s off to start subsequent balls. It can be relit in both cases with the flashing target.
I wonder if setting the level a certain way, steeper or just slightly right-leaning but not enough to notice, would make it a bit harder to do the repeat the right ramp trick. Or maybe have the shuttle targets leaned in slightly to make the ramp entrance slightly narrower.